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Americanization 


JUM 




A Preliminar 

Americanization Plans of the University of Wisconsin 


UN^ERSITY EXTENSION DIVISION, 
The University of Wisconsin 


MADISON 



price; too 


BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
Serial No. 973. General Series No. 757. 







CONTENTS 


^ Vv U 5 <3, 
' ^ i- 


Page 


What is Americanization. 3 

Agencies of Americanization in Wisconsin - 5 

Americanization Work at University of Wisconsin6 

Milwaukee Course for Teachers_ 7 

Racine Naturalization Course_ 8 

University Summer School- 9 

State-wide Naturalization Course_ 10 

Information Bureau- 11 

Lectures on Americanization_ 11 

Loose Leaf Courses--- 11 

Package Library_ 12 

Visual Instruction_ 12 

Community Music and Drama_ 12 


FOREWORD 

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin 
established a chair in Americanization at the University 
at their meeting in August, 1918. The work was affil¬ 
iated both with the College of Letters and Science and 
the University Extension Division. Mr. Don D. Les- 
cohier was appointed Associate Professor of Economics 
in charge of the Americanization Work. 















Americanization. What is it? 


Americanization in the United States, and Canadian- 
ization in Canada, differ fundamentally in their spirit, 
method, and purpose from the efforts of Germany to 
Germanize Poland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Alsace-Lor¬ 
raine ; of Austria to Austrianize the Czechs and Croats; 
and of Turkey to suppress the nationalism of the Ar¬ 
menians. The Central Powers tried to crush the national 
cultures and custorns of peoples over whom they had 
acquired power by force of arms. They continually sub¬ 
jected these peoples to the efforts of conquerors who 
sought to suppress the language and traditions that had 
obtained in the acquired territories, and to compel the 
use of the language, government, and culture of the 
conqueror. 

Americanization has nothing in common with such 
efforts as these. It is an effort to assist the alien among 
us to understand, appreciate, and partake of the best 
in American life and thought. It is an effort to provide 
facilities that will enable him to become an integral 
part of America and its life. It is a movement to help 
him share the privileges and benefits that a democracy 
offers to its people, and to fit him for his responsibilities 
as a citizen in a democratic commonwealth. It aims to 
help him know our national life; to help him make our 
traditions, heroes, and ideals his; to inspire in him a 
love for America and what it stands for; to win his heart 
to the things we love. 

But Americanization is more than this. It is as neces¬ 
sary for Americans to understand the peoples who have 
come to them from foreign lands as for those peoples to 


become acquainted with America. Every people whose 
feet have pressed our soil has brought to us traditions, 
customs, capacities, ideals, and personal qualities which 
are of inestimable value to America. Each race or na¬ 
tionality, when it first came to our shores, had to start 
at the bottom of the economic ladder. Each one’s 
capacity was undervalued by the American during the 
early years of its migration to America, because it had to 
rely principally upon common labor for a livelihood 
while it was learning our language and customs and 
fitting itself into our national life. The indifference and 
hardly-disguised contempt which a large number of 
Americans felt toward the Italian or the Slav during 
the twenty-five years from 1890 to the outbreak of the 
war, was experienced in earlier years by the Irishman, 
and in many parts of the country, by the German, 
Scandinavian, and Belgian. It is as necessary to help 
the American understand the newcomer and appreciate 
the contribution which he will make to our national life, 
as to help the immigrant understand the American. 

There is another point which Americans must be 
taught to remember. Every alien who comes to 
America comes here because he believes that America 
is a better place to live than his homeland. He comes 
here hopefully, expectantly, ’ eagerly. He comes here 
in a receptive mood. The only reason that alien prop¬ 
aganda has been able to retain a hold on part of the 
immigrants, has been that we have failed to provide 
them with proper educational, industrial, and social 
opportunities to become a real part of our life. They 
have not found us responsive, and their enthusiasm has 
been chilled. They have concluded that we did not 
care about them. Americanization must teach the 
American to value the people who have come to us, 
and cause him to assist the alien to enter into the privi¬ 
leges and duties of America’s adopted sons. 


[ 4 ] 


Americanization is, then, a process of education, of 
mutual understanding, of growing together. It cannot 
be accomplished by any one agency. The public schools 
can reach some of the adults; the Y. M. and Y. W. C. 
A., the social settlements, the welfare work of em¬ 
ployers, have important parts to play; while the re¬ 
search work and training of leaders in the university 
are necessary to provide specialized knowledge and 
leadership. Improvements in labor conditions, in land 
laws, in the housing of the,poor, and in methods of 
labor distribution are as important as any of the edu¬ 
cational work. They will remove many of the immi¬ 
grant’s causes of bitterness. Community and social 
centers; women’s and civic clubs; and the aroused in¬ 
terest of churches, parochial schools, fraternal orders, 
and companies engaged in land colonization are all 
essential to the task. In a word, Americanization is a 
process of mental and spiritual reconstruction—if we 
can use the word spiritual in a non-religious sense— 
which must be accomplished by a multitude of forces 
in our national life. The essential thing now is that 
those forces he wisely directed so that they may accom¬ 
plish the needed result, rather than produce evil results 
by their misdirected though well-intentioned efforts. 

Agencies of Americanization in Wisconsin 

There are a number of agencies in Wisconsin which 
are seriously concerned about this matter of American¬ 
ization. The State Council of Defense and many of the 
County Councils started committees at work, and the 
persons whom they have interested will continue to be the 
leaders in Americanization in many communities even 
after the councils terminate their organization. Some 
of the County Councils, such as those in Milwaukee and 
La Crosse counties, have already achieved notable re- 


suits. The State Superintendent of Education, the 
State Board of Vocational Education, and many local 
school boards have taken definite steps to promote true 
citizenship. Influential employers, the Milwaukee Asso¬ 
ciation of Commerce, and a number of other commercial 
organizations in the state have put themselves behind it. 
The question of Americanization is entering into the 
plans of those interested in land settlement in Wiscon¬ 
sin, and of the League to Enforce Peace. The social 
settlements have been trying harder than ever to reach 
their immediate neighborhoods. The women’s clubs of 
the state have stimulated the work in various communi¬ 
ties and established many classes for the training of 
foreign women. 

The University, in its Americanization work, recog¬ 
nizes the existence and the usefulness of every one of 
these lines of activity. It has no desire to supplant or 
to interefere with any of them. It believes that it has 
a distinct field of usefulness in Americanization, that 
the University can assist many of the other agencies to. 
ijicrease their effectiveness, and can carry on certain 
work which done of them would undertake. The Uni¬ 
versity has a distinct field of usefulness because it is a 
university, and its purpose is to perform those functions 
which belong to a university rather than those which 
belong to other organizations. It is through the three 
avenues of research, advice, and education, that the 
University hopes to perform its part in the work of 
Americanization. 

Americanization Work of the University 

The University function in Americanization work is 
not an administrative function. 

Seven principal projects are already under way: A 
teacher’s course to be given in Milwaukee to begin about 


February fifteenth and run ten weeks; the prej)aration 
of and induction into citizenship of four hundred 
eighty-two candidates for naturalization at Racine,; a 
summer session course in Americanization to be given 
at the University; a state-wide system of training can¬ 
didates for citizenship before they are accepted by the 
naturalization court; an Americanization information 
bureau in the Extension Division of the University; ad¬ 
visory and lecture work in local communities; and loose 
leaf courses of study in English and citizenship. 

1. Milwaukee TeacherCourse. 

The plan in the Milwaukee course is to provide train¬ 
ing for teachers who will later be employed by the city 
school board or by the vocational schools to teach Eng¬ 
lish and citizenship to adult foreigners. The course 
consists of thirty two-hour sessions. The first fifteen 
sessions will cover a study of the history and racial 
composition of immigration into this country; the ef¬ 
fects of immigration upon our civilization; conditions 
in the homelands from which these immigrants have 
come; the experiences which the immigrants have en¬ 
countered in their entrance into our national 
life; their reactions toward America; methods of or¬ 
ganization and management of classes for adult 
foreigners; successful and unsuccessful methods in 
teaching English to foreigners; and a presentation of 
the process by which aliens are naturalized. Those at¬ 
tending the course will all be instructed in methods of 
using the moving picture and stereopticon machines, 
folk music, and other agencies which facilitate such 
work. 

After the fifteenth session the course will be divided 
into three sections. Each student will elect the section 
he or she desires to enter. The subject of the first sec¬ 
tion will be “Vocational English for Adults.’^ The 


second section will take up ‘‘The Teaching of English 
to Foreign Women.” The third section will cover “The 
Teaching of Citizenship,” and will include an analysis 
of what is essential to be taught in American history, 
biography, and citizenship in fitting adults to enter our 
social life. 

A corps of teachers will be used in the teacher’s 
course, each of whom will be a specialist in some feature 
of the work, and all of whom will devote themselves to 
the discussion of a selected list of topics which will be 
assigned them. In other words, the course will not con¬ 
sist of a series of more or less unrelated lectures; but a 
systematic, unified study of a carefully selected field of 
information. 

2. Racine Naturalization Course. 

At Racine there are four hundred eighty-two candi¬ 
dates for naturalization. The head of the Americaniza¬ 
tion work was called into conference by the Racine 
Vocational Schools and suggested a program of pro¬ 
cedure which included the following: 

a. A personal interview with each one of these peti¬ 
tioners, to find out what instruction he needs to prepare 
him properly for citizenship. 

b. The enrollment of as many as possible of these 
candidates in courses in English and citizenship which 
will prepare them for naturalization. 

c. Their graduation from such courses with a 
diploma which they may present in court as evidence 
of their preparation and then their induction into citi¬ 
zenship in a community fete. 

d. A community banquet and a community pageant 
at the time of their induction into citizenship, and the 
induction of all young men who have come to the age 
of twenty-one years within the past six months, at the 
same time. 


e. The formation of a Community Citizenship Com¬ 
mittee to be composed of representatives of the natural¬ 
ization court, school system, trade unions, manufac¬ 
tures, etc., who would take charge of the general work 
in the city. 

3. University Summer Session Course in American¬ 
ization. 

Arrangements have been made for a course in Amer¬ 
icanization in the summer session. Professor Commons 
will give his closely related course on industrial service, 
and Professor Lescohier will give a lecture course on 
Americanization which will bring together the best 
available knowledge on the subject. This course has 
the practical purpose of equipping teachers and social 
workers, -who attend the summer session, to do Ameri¬ 
canization work more efficiently. One of the features 
of the work at the summer session will be daily, two- 
hour conferences in which the students of Americaniza¬ 
tion can meet for the discussion of the matters brought 
up in the lectures and of the problems they have en¬ 
countered in their several communities. These confer¬ 
ences are expected to be one of the most valuable 
-features of the course. They will bring together a con¬ 
siderable number of persons who have practical expe¬ 
rience in Americanization work and enable these people 
to work out systematically solutions for the practical 
difficulties they encounter in the work. The State 
Board of Vocational Education is expected to request 
each city which has vocational schools to pay at least 
part of the expenses of teachers from those schools to 
help them attend the Americanization course at the 
University. The hearty support of the State Superin¬ 
tendent of Public Instruction will be given in urging 
teachers from the public schools to attend the course at 
the summer session. 


It is believed that a large number of teachers and 
social workers of practical experience from various 
states will be assembled at this course, and that each at¬ 
tendant will get the benefit of their combined expe¬ 
rience. 

4. State-wide Naturalization Course. 

The head of the Americanization work, in coopera¬ 
tion with the United States Bureau of Naturalization, 
is working on a plan to prepare a course in English and 
citizenship for naturalization purposes, and to arrange 
for the use of such course all naturalization proceed¬ 
ings in the state. The plan is as follows: When an 
alien petitions for naturalization, the judge, in addi¬ 
tion to notifying the United States Bureau of Naturali¬ 
zation of such petition, will direct the alien to designat¬ 
ed school authorities in the district. The Bureau of 
Naturalization will notify such school authorities of 
the petition so that they can, on their initiative, look 
him up. The school authorities will be provided by the 
University with a course of training which has been 
approved by the Naturalization Bureau and by the 
courts, and will then give the alien such training in 
regular classes for that purpose. Upon completion of 
the course he will receive a diploma similar to that 
shown in the illustration in this bulletin. This diploma 
is a form now in use at Racine. This diploma will con¬ 
stitute evidence satisfactory to the court of the peti¬ 
tioner’s fitness for naturalization, and the judge will 
then omit any examination of the petitioner in court 
except such as is necessary to test his renunciation of 
the country of his birth and his pledge of loyalty to this 
country. It is expected that this plan will also lead to 
the inauguration of appropriate ceremonies of induction 
into citizenship in each locality. 


[ 10 ] 


5. Information Bureau. 

We are also planning to develop in connection with 
the Extension Service an Americanization Information 
Bureau which will keep the educators and other inter¬ 
ested citizens informed upon the available literature on 
the subject, answer their questions, and send a repre¬ 
sentative into communities to help them plan out the 
solution of their local problems. 

6. Lectures on Americanization. 

The head of Americanization cannot accept invita¬ 
tions to lecture through the state on the subject except 
where such lectures are an essential part of local Amer¬ 
icanization work. Whenever he does accept an invita¬ 
tion to lecture, it is in a community which is serious¬ 
ly planning Americanization work or is carrying it on, 
and he always expects to hold a conference with a group 
of interested citizens while in the community, to assist 
them in working out or perfecting their Americaniza¬ 
tion plans. 

7. Loose Leaf Courses in English and Citizenship are 
being prepared, in the University Extension Division, 
for distribution. These courses are planned in such a 
way that certain lessons can be selected which are par¬ 
ticularly adapted, for instance, to a group of Polish 
laborers. Another set could be used if it was a group 
of Italian farmers who were going to attend the class; 
or still another set for Greek confectioners. This wiU 
enable the teachers to meet specific problems peculiar to 
each community better than bound volumes. These 
courses will be distributed, upon request, to the school 
authorities or other proper organizations who will use 
them. 


[ 11 ] 


Material Now Available in Extension Division 

The University Extension Division has available three 
classes of material which can be used to advantage at 
once in the various communities of the state. 

1. The package library service of the University Ex¬ 
tension Division has compiled sets of bulletins, reports, 
and other pamphlet material which will be lent to com¬ 
munity centers, schools, clubs, or other organizations 
or individuals in the state upon request. A considerable 
amount of material on Americanization has been as¬ 
sembled. These may be obtained for use within the state 
by addressing the University Extension Division. 

2. The Visual Instruction Bureau has a number of 
sets of slides and of motion picture films, with appro¬ 
priate printed lectures, which are useful for Americani¬ 
zation work. These may be obtained for use within the 
state by writing to the University Extension Division. 

3. The Bureau of Community Music and Drama can 
furnish programs of community music, sets of Victrola 
records, and advice and assistance with respect to com¬ 
munity dramas, pageants, or other spectacles to further 
the Americanizing of the community. These may be 
obtained for use within the state by writing to the Uni¬ 
versity Extension Division. 

Wisconsin is the first American University to establish 
a chair of Americanization. It is opening up a new 
field in university work. The problems which confront 
the work are both large and intricate. Suggestions, crit¬ 
icisms, or inquiries from the citizens of the state which 
will enable us to direct and work in the wisest possible 
manner and to the state’s best advantage, will always 
be welcomed. 










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